Bible Study 8:00 AM PST 02/22/2025

Hello All,

This Saturday we will continue our journey through John's powerful
Pastoral Letters, in today's study we begin and complete [2 John].
Please join us, our Zoom Link and Bible Study notes are below for this
Saturday's session at 8:00 AM PST 02/22/2025. I pray you and yours are
well.

Please continue to pray that we all thrive in 2025 and we pray we will
experience an end to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. This evening
there seems to be some movement toward peace in both regions. We must
continue to pray fervently. Pray for enlightenment for all parties.
Both areas have a long, long history of conflict and perhaps a
completely out-of-the-box solution just might hold currency for peace
and stability.

On Saturday we will be looking at John's teachings in [2 John], a mere
13 verses. John will teach us in the first half that belief and
understanding are not enough, we must also walk the walk. That is a
recurrent theme in John, that we should prefer the active over the
passive expression of our faith. In the second half John will tell us
not to be tolerant of the 'cult of toleration.'

We love being with you on Saturday morning and the joy of getting to
know you and keeping abreast of all you do. Life stories are being
written in every moment of every day. Thank you for being with us. We
encourage you to share your stories, activities and prayers. Every
story is unique, inspirational and personal. No one else has the same
story, and your story is important to us and to God.

Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy
Spirit bring you His comfort and His peace. Join us!!!

Zoom Link:
For Study, Prayer and Fellowship - 8:00 AM PDT on 02/08/2025:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82968961343?pwd=LzcwVjJKcWVESDRURlhDcXlNV0JUdz09
Meeting ID: 829 6896 1343
Passcode: 77299ere:

Study Notes:

Prologue – The next two letters, 2 and 3 John are not doctrinal, they
address love and faith. John’s letters are © 85 – 95 A.D. His theme is
a theme we have adopted in these studies: Doing the work of Jesus –
today. John (apostle/evangelist) is the author and he refers to
himself as “the elder” and his readers as “children” leading us to
think he was older and talking as a family leader. He addresses us in
a familial manner, which we can extrapolate into congregational. This
was characteristic of churches then. He is clear about his opponents,
ex. Cerinthus, a Gnostic leader, who taught that Jesus was not the
true and eternal God. Nor did God create the world. John wants us to
avoid false teachers; treat all Christians as brothers and sisters;
and understand the true character of Christian love, faith and good
works. BTW, John was the only apostle to die of natural causes.

02/22/2025 – [2 John 1-6] – The Sign of Life – We are deemed
physically alive by breath and pulse (b/p). There are moments when
these physicalities are crucial. As important, are moral and spiritual
equivalents. It is how we  determine if one is truly alive in spirit,
that they are a true Christian. In [2 John], he uses the title John,
the Elder and writes to the ‘lady and her children’. Meaning a church
(or many) and its/their members, a purposeful nondisclosure.  We have
no idea where it/they may have been; close at hand, or far away.
Distance was not important – the danger was. John is writing his
letter to appear as if to a family friend.

John sees vital signs (b/p), signs of life, in some members. He is
delighted [v. 4] some of your children walk in the truth. This is the
theme of the first portion of the letter. John uses truth four times
in three verses. What is the truth? Pilate asked that question of
Jesus. To John it was simple and profound: truth means - Jesus, the
Messiah, as the full revelation of God the Father. All else flows from
that. Our challenge is in the ‘All else.’ John begins to speak of
loving in the truth; of knowing the truth; of the truth abiding in us
and with us. And God’s grace, mercy and peace being with us in truth
and love. As the key ‘sign of life’ John finds some members of another
church who are ‘walking in the truth’; meaning they are behaving in
accordance with the truth. John sees some members showing ‘signs of
life’ (passive) and others behaving in the truth (active). Note –
distinction! [1 John]

Truth for John seems to deal with the wholeness, completeness of human
life from the initial stirrings of thought and imagination to every
detail of practical living. He believes Jesus, the Messiah the creator
God displayed the form and pattern of this truth AND dealt with the
untruth of the world! These are the lies that distort and deface
humans and the world. The truth allows men and women to rediscover
truth-in-action; truth-in the-heart; truth-in-real-life. Truth has to
do with integrity. Integrity has to do with God’s redeeming purposes
for the entire world – God’s new creation. [John 15:1-17]

Truth does not simply mean saying things that correspond with reality.
Ex., It is cold out-side, when the thermometer reads, –20 degrees.
That is surface level truth. John speaks of truth that goes deep and
wide. It is when people, redeemed by the Messiah, renewed by the Holy
Spirit: think, speak and act in a manner corresponding with God’s plan
to renew the whole creation. And what we are called, by God, to do.
Untruth (telling lies) happens when we think, speak and act as thought
the present world is all there is. ‘The way things are’ sets the
boundaries. This sets-up the second part of the letter. The Deceiver
denies the great new truth which shapes all actions and all reality in
the world. The great truth is the powerful redeeming love of God, the
motor that drives the cosmos and those who dis-cover the truth or are
discovered by the truth learn to let love flow through them to their
fellow Christians and the surrounding world. That is the commandment
above all others! Love matters! The church needs to allow this sink in
and let it transform life generation to generation. Love is not an
optional extra, added when all else is sorted out. Breathe out, love
one another [v. 5]; breathe in, keep the commandments [v. 6a]. Keep
breathing and living in accordance with it. [v. 6b] These are little
things, but they are foundational!

[2 John 7 – 13] – Do Not Be the Devil – As Peter says, “love covers a
multitude of sins.” [1 Peter 4:8; Prov. 10:12] We have talked about
the power of love, but notice what Jesus tells us love is not. Society
does not agree w/ Jesus. Love does not mean tolerance. If we say
something is wrong, we are accused of being unloving. Society demands
acceptance of multiple ways of doing things or that there are multiple
ways of living or there is a ‘right’ way to live. Should we insist, we
are accused of being intolerant, unloving or arrogant and the final
degradation – un-Christian. Today we have a cult of ‘tolerance’, a
moralistic invention of the modern secular world. They borrow
Christian language to refer to something different; claiming the moral
high ground without considering other views. Notice carefully how
modern society distorts language.

Keep in mind - the modern ‘tolerance cult’ will sharply rebuke what
John has written. John, one of the great Christian minds, clearly
attuned to Jesus, becomes as intolerant as possible. John warns not to
be taken in by the Deceiver, the Anti-messiah. Do not! Care for
yourself, care for your work, imagine all you have done and then not
receive full credit. [v. 8] We must return to [1 John] and those who
question Jesus the Messiah, in the flesh. This was a scandalous
proposal in the ancient world and today. Some will do anything to
avoid this truth. This may seem abstract: God’s love in the flesh is
God’s love coming in human flesh in those who follow Him. It is the
fact that unites the two halves of this letter. Anything watering down
this truth is not to be tolerated!

The central truth determines the limits of Christian fellowship. Today
we bend over back-wards to be hospitable and inclusive but those
attributes have limits. Paul wants us to be civil and courteous to
those ‘outside’. [1 Cor. 5:10; 10:27] However, if one claims to be
Christian and does not keep this central teaching - they should not be
welcomed. This is challenging: what level of friendly or casual
association grants tacit approval? This is a perception problem. Is it
un-Christian to worship the Jesus we truly know and at the same time
give credence to a different Jesus? What is truly un-Christian is a
failure of Christian charity to warn others that certain styles of
behavior lead to ruin – not to life. This is a huge challenge in
today’s world. Where do we draw the line? Personally, I prefer not to
draw the line too tightly, I prefer not to be seen as overly
self-righteous, nor do I wish to miss the opportunity to move someone
closer to the light. This is a danger zone. We must be fully aware of
the message carried by these verses. The letter ends with the love
John has advocated. He prefers face-to-face rather than a letter, as
we should. Try not to substitute electronics for facial contact. We
must ponder whether electronics devalue humanness? John would urge us
to be right on this. Thus ends [2 John]. AMEN

Love, hank

Hank Hohenstein, OFS
Land Steward
161 Osprey Vista
Shady Cove, OR 97539
Cell: 541-973-5442
hankhohenstein@gmail.com